Emergency lights on the shoulder ahead

I'm guessing the owner of the car displaying this particular personalized plate was trying to get other motorists to move out of his or her way because he or she wanted to speed up.

I'm reminded of that plate -- which crossed my path a couple of years ago -- as the California Department of Transportation, or Caltrans, forges full-speed ahead this spring with a public relations campaign to get all of us out of its way.

"Every day highway workers put their lives in danger just by going to work," Caltrans Director Malcolm Dougherty stated in a news release.

And Caltrans is calling motorists' attention to a 4-year-old state law addressing the problem.

The agency recently highlighted the law on more than 700 electronic changeable-message signs spread throughout the state.

Caltrans also is putting up new 4-foot-by-10-foot permanent-message signs that direct motorists to "Move Over or Slow Down for Stopped Emergency and Maintenance Vehicles" or to "Move Over or Slow Down When Amber Lights Flashing."

Caltrans spokeswoman Cathryne Bruce-Johnson said seven of the big new signs are being installed in San Diego County along Interstates 5 and 8. And spokeswoman Shelli Lombardo said 11 are being installed along Interstates 10, 15 and 40 in Riverside and San Bernardino counties.

In essence, the law requires us to make room -- if safe to do so -- for police officers and other emergency responders, and for highway workers.

California Highway Patrol Commissioner Joe Farrow put it this way: "If you see emergency lights on the shoulder ahead, the law requires you to move over or slow down."

By the way, the law also requires you to slow in freeway construction zones where there are reduced speed limits. That posted 55 mph limit isn't optional, although many of us blow by the temporary speed limit signs as if it is.

Circling back to a topic we addressed a couple of weeks ago, California's window tint statute is another law that is widely ignored. Despite the prohibition in state law against darkening windshields and front windows, many car owners do so anyway.

That bothers Dennis Uhlken, a reader from Wildomar.

He rides his bicycle a lot. And making eye contact with drivers is crucial to determining if it is safe to proceed -- green light or not.

"The place I get most nervous on my bicycle is at intersections when I have the green light and there are cars coming up on the cross street to my right, to turn onto the street I am on," Uhlken said via email. "So I am looking carefully at the driver to see if they are looking at me or not. There are many cars where I can't see the driver due to the tint, so I feel at risk."

Pedestrians do the same thing.

That's something to think about if you are considering tinting your windows. We don't all ride bicycles, but we are all pedestrians.